The Structure of a Transformational Character Arc in Spiderman Movie Clips by Jodi Henley

Sometimes the transformational character arc is a lot easier to see. These are five scenes from Sam Raimi, the same guy who brought you Evil Dead, Xena, Warrior Princess, Hercules, Spiderman, The Grudge, Spartacus Blood and Sand, and American Gothic.

This is the inciting incident, or what gets this particular story going (if you can’t access the link, youtube “Peter Parker’s spider bite, the birth of Spiderman”). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAZ_rbYQSs

The spider bite isn’t the first thing that happens in the movie, because to understand Peter’s conflict, we need to understand Peter. Spiderman is a character-driven movie and the story follows Peter’s transformational arc.

Peter’s conflict:

Peter’s conscious motivation (to make money and impress Mary Jane) is fighting his subconscious motivation (his upbringing) to do the right thing (Uncle Ben—with great power comes great responsibility).

Peter is changing, but he doesn’t want to grow up and take responsibility for his actions. His uncle doesn’t know about the bite and they’re not talking about the same thing, but Peter takes his uncle’s lecture as a direct attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5d6rTQcU2U#t=125

Peter’s black moment:

Later, when Peter is ripped off by a shady wrestling promoter, he stands aside while the man is robbed, and during the getaway Uncle Ben is killed. This is the climax that pushes Peter to the breaking point (the death of Uncle Ben). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cm1cEo8SKM

Peter changes:

(Spiderman out for revenge). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouG3PqGxTmM

What changing allows Peter to do:

Peter had great power and great responsibility...and he dropped the ball. His actions lead to the death of the man he loved like a father. And it tears him to shreds.

This allows Peter to change and take action, telling Mary Jane he doesn’t love her in order to protect her. And he walks away, into his destiny as Spiderman (Spiderman—the end). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5QxUHCKqMU

A few thoughts on the inciting incident, exposition, info-dumping and the transformational point

In Spiderman, the inciting incident isn’t the first thing on the screen, and it wouldn’t be the first thing we read in a book. We need to understand Peter before the story starts in order to understand his conflict. A story starts when what it’s “about” begins. Spiderman isn’t about some geek kid with a crush on a hot chick. It’s about a geek kid who gets everything he always wanted and has to let it all go to do the right thing. We need to see Peter’s ordinary world before he gets bit by the spider, because if we don’t, we won’t get to see his love for Mary Jane or the way Flash Thompson bullies him. In fiction, making sure a reader understands a character’s ordinary world is called exposition. It’s the portion of the story that explains stuff you need to know in order to understand what’s going on.

Sometimes, for purposes of the story, the writer starts with the inciting incident, in which case, exposition would need to be layered in afterwards.

Peter’s exposition is both the start of his transformational arc and his specific, focused backstory. Peter’s experiences as a socially awkward geek in love with Mary Jane and bullied by Flash are what made him into the guy who gets bit by a radioactive spider, and the emotions flowing out of his past experiences are what drive him to the point of change.

There’s a lot of movie left after Peter’s transformational point, because a transformational point always changes the character so they can do or realize something, and Peter has a lot to do.

However, in Peter’s case, his change isn’t complete because he can’t let go of Mary Jane. Mary Jane and Flash are equal motivators, and when the motivation from Flash shrinks (because Peter takes responsibility for his actions and starts to grow up (just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should)), the motivation from Mary Jane expands. The problem is that Spiderman isn’t a romance. Like Will in Good Will Hunting, Peter has to finish his change in order to move on with his life, and his life doesn’t include Mary Jane (the change needs to address the events of the end).

So how do we get his change to apply to Mary Jane?

By looking at the transformational point; Peter takes responsibility for his actions.

That means something needs to happen to put Mary Jane in danger and make pushing her away the only way Peter can protect her.

People fight change. Just because Peter takes responsibility for his actions and goes off to use his powers wisely, doesn’t mean everything in his backstory was addressed. Stuff that is not addressed or changed doesn’t go away.

The threads containing Mary Jane need resolution. If the story ends at this point (with Spidey deciding to fight crime) it’ll feel like it ended too abruptly.

Thanks for checking me out!

Jodi

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